Two men suspected of the abduction and torture of a 28-year-old Italian cryptocurrency investor pleaded not guilty, while the investigation into their case seems to have extended to the New York police service himself.
New York police had already arrested William Duplesie, 33, and John Woeltz, 37, for the accusations, as well as a third person, Beatrice Folchi, 24, although her lawsuits were deferred. The victim was not appointed publicly.
Men are accused of having removed the victim and holding him hostage in a luxury town house in the Ritzy Soho district of Manhattan for more than two weeks. Meanwhile, New York police said that the trio had tortured the man, forcing him to take drugs, swing him with a ledge, urinating him on him and electrocuting him in an effort to force him to put the private keys from his bitcoin. The alleged authors are accused of having made the victim t-shirts with a crack pipe in their mouths and taking polaroids from the victim with a firearm.
The victim escaped last Friday, grabbing his laptop and leaving the townhouse, then asking for help from a traffic agent.
Duplessie pleaded a non-culpability plea with five different accusations, in particular kidnapping with the intention of perceiving a ransom, kidnapping and causing a physical injury, criminal possession of a loaded firearm, assault with the intention of causing a physical injury with an illegal weapon and imprisonment, depending on the court file.
Woeltz was accused of kidnapping, aggression, illegal imprisonment and criminal possession of a firearm, and he also pleaded not guilty, according to his court file.
Two NYPD officers, including a detective assigned to the retail of the protection of the mayor Eric Adams, worked for Duplessie and Woeltz in their hours on leave and were now placed in a modified service, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. A familiar source told Coindesk that the two officers were not part of the kidnapping, but that the security work has rather worked for the defendants. They may have led the victim of an airport to the town hall, but were not linked to his torture, said the source.
A spokesperson for the NYPD said the case was “in internal exam”.
A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said in a statement that “each city employee should follow the law, including our officers, in service and outside. We are disturbed by these allegations, and as soon as we arrived at our attention, the officers were put into a modified service. The investigation is underway.”
Update (May 29, 2025, 22:27 UTC): Add additional details.
